Sources of Energy

Dr. Chidanand
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,
B. M. S. College of Engineering, Bull Temple Road, Bengaluru.
 ENERGY

 Energy is the capacity of a physical system to perform work.

 Energy exists in several forms such as heat, kinetic or mechanical energy,
light, potential energy , electrical, or other forms.
 Energy is the ability to do work.
 From Engg. Point of view, energy sources could be classified as
Renewable and Non-renewable.
 Conventional Energy Sources

You know that petrol and diesel extracted from crude oil are commonly used to run
different kinds of vehicles, such as cars, buses, tractors, trucks, train, aero planes etc.
Similarly, kerosene and natural gas are used as fuels in lamps and stoves. You should
also know that crude oil coal and natural gas occur in limited and exhaustible
quantities. They cannot be regenerated in a short period of time or used again and
again. Hence, they are called non-renewable sources of energy.
Advantages of Renewable energy

• Non-exhaustable
• Freely available in nature
• Pollution free, or less pollutant in nature
• Diverse in nature and flexible.
• Transmission cost is relatively less.
• Energy conversion losses are less

Dis-advantages of Renewable energy

 Intermittent availability in nature.

 Concentrated in certain geographical regions.
 Technology not fully developed and advance to meet the current energy requirement.
Advantages of Non-renewable energy

 Available in all three phase in nature, solid, liquid, and gas.

 Very high calorific value in all phase.
Transportation of fossil fuels like oil and gas to the power stations can be
made through the use of pipe-lines, making it an easy task.
Fossil fuels can generate huge amounts of electricity in just a single
location.
Dis-advantages of Non-renewable energy

 Limited stock is available in Earth crust.

 Pollution is a major disadvantage of using fossil fuels as source of energy.
During the process of combustion of fossil fuels a lot of toxic gases (and
fly-ash in case of coal) are generated which cause pollution of the
atmosphere.
 These gases include carbon dioxide, which traps the Sun’s heat and may
be causing global warming. Besides carbon dioxide, coal also gives off
sulphur dioxide which may cause acid rain.
Fossil Fuels:

• Formed due to long buried micro-organisms.

• Chemically consists of hydrocarbons- Hydrogen and carbons.
• Fossil fuels consists of Petroleum, Coal, and natural gas.
• Hydrocarbons are mostly from ancient living organisms buried under the
layer of sediments, with high heat and pressure.
Coal:

• Solid fossil fuels formed from ancient plants as trees, ferns.

• Generation of these plants dried gradually and buried under the layer of
sediments.
• Over a period of time, layer of sediments goes on increasing overburdening
the material beneath.
• The high pressure of sediments and temperature causes the organic
material to undergo number of transitional states to form coal.
• The mounting pressure and temperature caused original material which is
rich in carbon, hydrogen and oxygen to become increasingly carbon rich
and hydrogen and oxygen poor.
• The stages of coal formation are peat, bituminous coal, and anthracite.
Petroleum formation:

• Mainly formed from ancient microscopic plants, bacteria that lived in

ocean, salt water seas.
• Micro-organism died and settled to the sea-floor and gets mixed with sand
the silt to form organics rich mud.
• As layer of sediments gets accumulated over a period of time over the
organics matter.
• This gradually heated the mud and slowly compressed into shale
chemically transforming into petroleum.
• The petroleum fills the tiny holes within nearby porous rock.
Natural gas:

• Mostly formed due to plankton- small water dwell organisms as algae,

protozoan that accumulates on ocean floor as they died.
• They gets buried and compressed in ocean bed under the layer of sediments.
• Over million years pressure and temperature generated over the underlying
sediments converts this organic matter into natural gas.
• Natural gas mainly consists of methane gas and other lighter hydrocarbons.
• Natural gas frequently migrates through porous and fractured rock with
petroleum.
• Owing to lower density, forms a layer over the petroleum products.
 Conventional Non-conventional
Meaning Conventional sources of energy are the Non-conventional sources of energy
sources that are commonly in use since refers to the sources that are
long time. identified few decades ago.
Exhaustible They can be exhausted due to over They cannot be exhausted.
consumption.
Pollution They pollute environment, on a large They are environment friendly
scale and adds to global warming. sources, which does not causes
pollution.
Use They are primarily used for industrial They are mainly used for domestic
and commercial purposes. purposes.
Expense Costly. Comparatively less expensive.
Meaning Conventional sources of energy are the Non-conventional sources of energy
sources that are commonly in use since refers to the sources that are
long time. identified few decades ago.
Exhaustible They can be exhausted due to over They cannot be exhausted.
consumption.
Energy conversion from fossil fuels:

• Fossil fuels comprises of Carbon and Hydrogen- combustible in nature.

• They generate heat on combustion, and converted into mechanical energy
in steam turbines, which in turn drive electrical generators in thermal
power plants.
Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished
constantly such as solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal
resources, and biofuels and hydrogen.

Solar Energy

Sun is the primary source of energy. Sunlight is a clean, renewable source of

energy. It is a sustainable resource, meaning it doesn't run out, but can be
maintained because the sun shines almost every day. Coal or gas are not
sustainable or renewable: once they are gone, there is none left. More and
more people are wanting to use clean, renewable energy such as solar, wind,
geothermal steam and others. It is called 'Green Power'. It lights our houses
by day, dries our clothes and agricultural produce, keeps us warm and lots
more. Its potential is however much larger.
Advantages:

• It is for longer duration of time, natural source and free.

• It is available in plenty.
• It is non-polluting.
• It does not emit any green house gases.
• Solar energy offers decentralization in most (sunny) locations, meaning
self-reliant societies.
• One of the biggest advantages of solar energy is the ability to avoid the
politics and price volatility that is increasingly characterizing fossil fuel
markets.
• It doesn’t result in the destruction of forests and eco-systems that occurs
with most fossil fuel operations.
Disadvantages:

• Dependent on change in seasons / weather – hence they may not be used

always.
• Requires high initial investments for productive use
• Solar systems doesn’t work at night directly but the battery bank, which
stores energy during day-time can be used during night.
• Solar electricity storage technology has not reached its potential yet.
• Solar panels are bulky. This is particularly true of the higher-efficiency,
traditional silicon crystalline wafer solar modules.
Wind Energy:

Wind is the natural movement of air across the land or sea. The wind when
used to turn the blades of a wind mill turns the shaft to which they are
attached. This movement of shaft through a pump or generator produces
electricity. The Potential for wind power generation for grid interaction has
been estimated at about 1,02,788 MW taking sites having wind power
density greater than 200 W/sq. m at 80 m hub-height with 2% land
availability in potential areas for setting up wind farms @ 9 MW/sq. km.
India now has the 4th largest wind power installed capacity in the world
which has reached 37756.35 MWp (as on May, 2020). Private agencies
own 95 % of the wind farms in India.
Advantages
•It is environment friendly
•Its freely and abundantly available

Disadvantages
•High investment requirement
•Wind speed is not uniform all the
time which affects power generated

Wind mill Wind turbine assembly

Biomass and Biofuels
What is biomass?
The fermentation process in a biogas plant takes place in an anaerobic,
thermally insulated and heated tank, called digester. Digesters are regularly fed
with fresh biomass. The bacteria in the digester transform the biomass into
biogas and digestate. This biomass passes through various cycles producing
different forms of energy sources. For example, fodder for animals that in turn
produce dung, agricultural waste for cooking, etc. The current availability of
biomass in India is estimated at about 500 million MT per annum, with an
estimated surplus biomass availability of about 120 – 150 million metric tones
per annum covering agricultural and forestry residues. This corresponds to a
potential of about 18,000 MW. An additional 9200.50 MWp power was
generated through bagasse based cogeneration in the country’s Sugar mills.
Advantages

• Available locally and to some extent abundantly

• It is a relatively clean fuel when compared to fossil fuels. In a way biomass
also cleans our environment by trapping carbon- di-oxide.
•Biofuel is simple to use, biodegradable, non-toxic and essentially free of
Sulphur and aroma.

Disadvantages

• Drudgery involved in collection of fuel

• During indoor cooking and in the absence of sufficient ventilation fuels
such as dung cause air pollution which is a serious health hazard
• Unsustainable and inefficient use of biomass often leads to destruction of
vegetation and hence environmental degradation, bottling is difficult.
Layout of Bio-gass/mass energy generation process
Tidal Energy:
Tidal energy is a renewable energy powered by the natural rise and fall of
ocean tides and currents. Tidal power is taken from the Earth's
oceanic tides. The tidal force are periodic variations in gravitational attraction
exerted by celestial bodies. These forces create corresponding motions or
currents in the world's oceans. Due to the strong attraction to the oceans, a
bulge in the water level is created, causing a temporary increase in sea level. As
the Earth rotates, this bulge of ocean water meets the shallow water adjacent to
the shoreline and creates a tide. This occurrence takes place in an unfailing
manner, due to the consistent pattern of the moon's orbit around the earth.
Geo-Thermal Energy:
Geothermal energy is the thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth.
Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. The
geothermal energy of the Earth's crust originates from the original formation
of the planet and from radioactive decay of material.

Temperatures at the core- mantle boundary may reach over 4000 °C. The
high temperature and pressure in Earth's interior cause some rock to melt and
solid mantle to behave plastically, resulting in parts of the mantle
convecting upward since it is lighter than the surrounding rock. Rock and
water is heated in the crust, sometimes up to 370 °C.